Amex Uber benefit changes – The Points Guy

If you have the American Express® Gold Card or The Platinum Card® from American Express, listen up: Your Uber benefits are about to change.

Soon, you’ll have to pay with an Amex card for an Uber transaction, and you must have downloaded the latest version of the Uber App in order to use your Uber Cash.

We’ve heard some reports of cardmembers receiving specific notices about this change in their accounts. While many of us at TPG haven’t yet received a notification from Amex, the official pages for the Uber benefit on the Amex Gold and Amex Platinum now have a note specifying the Nov. 8 change.

Amex Uber benefits change

The benefit works like this: As long as you have your card with the Uber Cash benefit linked to your Uber account as a payment method, Uber Cash is deposited directly into your account at the beginning of each month.

Currently, you can use any card to pay for the transaction if it costs more than the Uber Cash in your account. This is great for those of us with other cards that earn more on ride-hailing services since we can use the Uber Cash from our linked Amex card and then pay with a card that earns more than 1 point per dollar on any remaining Uber charges.

However, starting Nov. 8, you’ll be required to use an Amex card as your payment method in order to use the Uber Cash in your account. Depending on what Amex cards you have in your wallet, this change could seriously reduce rewards for frequent Uber riders.

If you were, for instance, using your Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card as your primary payment method and have to change to your Platinum or Gold, you’ll go from earning 3 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar to just 1 American Express Membership Rewards point per dollar on your Uber rides — taking you from over a 6% return to a 2% return, according to TPG’s September 2024 valuations.

But it’s not all bad news. If you’re like me and use your Amex Gold Uber Cash primarily for Uber Eats, this may not even register as a change. I always use my Amex Gold for Uber Eats since it earns 4 points per dollar on dining at restaurants, which includes takeout in the U.S. But if you have the Amex Platinum and/or primarily use Uber Cash toward rides, this could mean a shake-up for your Uber earning rates.

Note that you can use any Amex card as your payment method in order to use your Uber Cash — not just the card that carries the benefit. This means that if you have the American Express® Green Card, for instance, you can use it to earn 3 points per dollar on your Uber ride.

The information for the American Express Green Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Bottom line

Starting Nov. 8, Amex Platinum and Amex Gold cardmembers will need to use an Amex card as the payment method in order to use their monthly Uber Cash benefit. Depending on which Amex cards you have and how you use your Uber Cash, this change may require some tweaking to your purchasing habits.

Still, it will remain relatively simple to take full advantage of the monthly Uber Cash benefit on both the Amex Gold and Amex Platinum cards.

Related: How to use your Amex Uber credits